As a noun, the term is usually used in the plural form, even if it only refers to a single event: if a judge fines a party, it is not said that he or she imposed a sanction, but that he or she imposed sanctions.

Conversely and sometimes confusingly, the word may be used to imply "approve of," especially in an official sense. "The law sanctions such behavior" would imply that the behavior spoken of enjoys the specific approval of law.

To sanction implies make a legal agreement. The word is derived from sanctus, to make holy. A legal agreement or sanction imposes approvals, rules, guidelines and penalties on conduct.

The Sanction is defined as an element associated with an accountability and which corresponds to the consequence resulting from the justification of the realisation (or not) of this accountability..[2]